Today marks 10 years since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut. The shooter, Adam Lanza, 20, ended up killing 26 people including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members.

The senseless massacre has been etched in people’s memories over the years and is still known as the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in U.S. history, and the fourth-deadliest mass shooting overall. The shooting prompted renewed debate about gun control in the United States. 

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The shooting took place 11 days before Christmas that year and destroyed families, dreams, and futures. It was a scene out of a nightmare as the Newtown police and Connecticut State Police mobilized local police dog and police tactical units, a bomb squad, and a state police helicopter. Panicked parents gathered at the school trying to find proof of life. 

In November, a memorial for the victims of Sandy Hook was opened to the public, near the school grounds. The names of the victims were carved into a wall that circled a sycamore tree.

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Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose six-year-old daughter, Ana Grace Marquez-Greene was among the victims, wrote on Twitter: “Ten years. A lifetime and a blink. Ana Grace, we used to wait for you to come home. Now you wait for us. Hold on, little one. Hold on. We’re not in a place to have polite discourse in this country on that issue.”

Sandy Hook victims

Here are the names of all the people who lost their lives on that ill-fated day: 

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Rachel D’Avino, 29

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Dylan Hockley, 6

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Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Victoria Soto, 27

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6